


Fictober Shorts: Geth

by Lyrishadow



Series: Fictober 2020 Shorts [21]
Category: Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:08:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27184984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyrishadow/pseuds/Lyrishadow
Summary: Prompt 21 “this, this makes it all worth it”Fandom: Mass EffectTitle:  GethPairing: Egan Shepard/ Kaidan AlenkoRating: T
Relationships: Kaidan Alenko/Male Shepard
Series: Fictober 2020 Shorts [21]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1977133
Kudos: 2





	Fictober Shorts: Geth

“Geth,” Egan muttered several times under his breath along with descriptive words that Kadian raised an eyebrow at as they drove the mako around between outposts.  
“Shepard?” No response “Egan?”  
“Yeah.” Egan looked over at him briefly. “I know. Sorry, Tali.”  
“I have heard worse in my pilgrimage.” Tali shrugged “You should hear the mercenaries on Omega.”  
“You… went to Omega?” Kaidan was shocked  
“Of course, it is closer to the fleet.” Tali said as if everyone knew the location of the flotilla, “I wanted to come to the Citadel, to see what it was like… I hadn’t really decided what to do.”  
“When you were attacked?”  
“Well I did get the Geth data first, and then came to the citadel where yes, I was attacked by Saren’s minions.”Tali supplied.  
“I always forget you had done all that before we met you.” Egan started to reply when the mako clipped a hill and spun. “Son of a…”  
“I think Garrus has been calibrating the steering a little” Tali offered as an explanation. “That is why I get into my seat well these days.”  
Kaidan nodded though Egan did note that his friend was looking a little green around the edges. “Alright, I will try to stick to flat ground.”  
“Feel free to stop for ore.” Kaidan said gesturing to the GPS map interface, “there is some around here and you know how that gets.”  
Stopping for ore would give time for the green to settle, Egan thought, and for him to get a better bearing on what the Geth were up to in the sector. Why were they focused on being here?  
They had been on three planets already in the area, trying to stop the Geth incursion in the Skyllian Verge. It had taken a lot to get where they are and Egan was less than impressed with the damage the Mako had already taken.  
“Can we fix this?” Egan kicked the rim of the mako’s tire which was decidedly dented from the last episode with a Geth. “Be nice if we had some idea of what they were using to do that?”  
“Plasma weapons?”Kaidan said scanning with his Omni tool “I am guessing it bounced off something tho, we only got a little bit of reflected damage.”  
“They always seem to aim for the front of a vehicle,” Tali added somehow coming to stand directly next to the two men.  
“Oh, that is handy to know.” Egan nodded “I can dodge them if we don’t freaking bounce all over the place.”  
They looked at each other and said “Garrus.”  
“Alright, got that map Alenko?”  
“Yes Sir.” Kaidan pulled up the map on the Omni tool and Egan blinked as he identified and memorized the locations they needed to go.  
“Ok two more bunkers to storm, let’s go.”

They piled into the mako and made their way to the next base. It was un-nerving the number of spikes around it and as much as Egan wanted to ignore it they were a sign he wished he had never witnessed on Eden Prime.  
“Keep sharp.” he waved at the spikes “That’s a lot of spikes.”  
“Egan that was unintentional right?” Kaidan asked running a hand over his face at the horrible pun his Commander had used.  
“What? Oh god… “ Egan sighed “Sorry, it’s been a long day, just pay attention.”  
“Ok let’s deal with this.”They sobered themselves as they went into the second last bunker.  
“Must they kill the science guys here? I mean… ”Egan pulled his biotic shield up and dodged to shoot the incoming husks. “Not a fate I want thanks.”  
“Not a fate any of us want.” Tali echoed his thoughts “Except maybe the already deranged.  
“All clear,” Kaidan said coming round behind Shepard.  
“Alright check for useful things, and see if there is anything we can learn from the Geth.” He would have to file a report after all of this was over, and he wanted as much information as possible to relay back to Admiral Hackett.  
Tali was on that already, scanning and taking notes for him on the nature of the Geth.  
“I wonder if Geth get indoctrinated?” Kaidan asked.  
“Well, I guess that’s…. can an AI be indoctrinated?” Egan began to wonder about that too, “What influences does Sovereign have over … Geth?”  
“We know they worship them.”Tali supplied as she gingerly turned over another Geth body, this one a larger model called a juggernaut. It was well dead, and it oozed that white conductive fluid common with all Geth they had killed.  
“We know what you know.” Egan nodded at Tali “Short of asking one about these things, which I highly doubt we will be doing, we need to ascertain why they are here.”  
“They have enough here to invade at least our main colonies out here.” Kaidan pointed out handing Egan some medi-gel and supplies he had gathered.  
“Medi-gel?” Egan looked curiously at the Geth “Do you think they use it?”  
“Maybe.”  
“So much we don’t understand about our own creation,” Tali said sadly.  
“It’s okay Tali, maybe you will be the one to change all that.” Egan said pointing at her work with the Geth in front of them “You have anything for us?”  
“Some data, information on shields and damage and such.” Tali sighed “Not enough.”  
“Want to grab a weapon and take it back to look at?” Kaidan called “Egan missed one in the fight.”  
“What hey!” They moved to where Kaidan was standing over a fallen Geth juggernaut, dead but still with its weapon close by.  
“I shorted a few, they blew up.” Egan was explaining himself as they walked over.  
“Plasma weapons.” Tali confirmed “Let’s take one back with us and look at it. Maybe even get Ashley to analyze it and tell us more.”  
“Ok one more base to go.” Egan nodded to the others “We might find out where the main bunker is located.”  
They made their way back to the Mako and Egan maneuvered his way to the final bunker on the planet where the Geth had holed up.  
The final facility there was a lot of dead bodies littered near the door.  
“The scientists put up a fight.” Egan said sadly as they made their way through “I don’t know if it even matters?”  
“Fight or die trying.” Tali confirmed “Better than being turned into a husk.”  
“I imagine so“ Egan replied grimly, his biotics flaring as he prepared himself “Let’s go.”  
The fight went as before, the Geth benign torn down by the two biotics and Tali with her electronics managing to tear through their shields.  
“Shepard!”Tali called as Egan felt his shields being torn through.  
“Damn it.” He ducked down behind a barrier and used the medi-gel on a burn that had caught him.  
“You ok?”Kaidan called as Egan saw the last Geth float off up to the ceiling of the room and crash violently to the ground and its death.  
“Fine. Just a scratch.” Egna shrugged “Not the first, won’t be the last.”  
“Oh, that’s not pretty. Get Chakwas to patch you up when we get back.”  
“Sure.” He was focused on the room with computer panels in the back.  
“I have a location for the last base.”  
“Ok.“ Egan looked over her shoulder at the screen “Another planet?”  
“Yes,” Tali held up her omni tool to view it “Grissom system, Solcrum.”  
“Alright back to the Normandy:” Egan suggested “Next planet Solcrum.”  
Back on the Normandy, Kaidan reminded Egan to get his arm seen to.  
“Commander, that’s a nasty burn, get it seen to.”  
“Ok ok.. I’m going. Get Joker to head for Solcrum”.  
Egan was sitting in the med bay when Kaidan came by to make sure he had taken himself there.  
“Oh just checking he took himself to you Doc.” Kaidan smiled as Egan frowned at him ‘“C’moin you know I wouldn’t mess around with. Ow…”  
“Stay still.” Dr Chakwas said exasperated “Or do I have to get Kaidan to hold you down?”  
“Fine.” Egan managed to stay still for the duration of the treatment. “Hey, Kaidan,”  
“Yeah?” Kaidan had laid down on one of the other med bay beds.  
“You okay?”  
“Migraine.”  
“Oh.” Egan sighed “Wish I had a solution for that”  
“It’s ok, gives me time to rest and think.”  
“How long till we get to Solcrum?”  
“A good few hours.”  
“Ok you rest, I will go think.” Egan looked at the Doctor who rolled her eyes.  
“Commander you are like having a teenager around.”  
“Sorry.” Shepard replied, “I try not to get hurt too often.”  
“Learn to duck,” Kaidan said with an effort from where he was resting his head.  
“Ok ok,” Egan threw Kaidan a concerned frown before he added, “I’m leaving before he thinks he has to lecture me, migraine and all.”  
As he left the med bay he asked Joker to call tali up from Engineering, where he knew she was already raptly watching everyone work.  
“You called Shepard?”  
“Yeah I was wondering if you could help me with the report on the Geth, I want as much information on what they were using and how to defeat them as possible.” They worked together with the data they had collected over the next few hours looking at possible information that the Alliance could use in facing any stray Geth incursions.  
“Commander” Joker’s voice came over the announcement system “Solcrum eta about 10 mins.”  
“Thanks, Joker” Egan replied, “Tali, I’m going to see if Kaidan is able to come with us, and then meet me in the mako.”  
“Certainly.” Tali paused “Thanks for letting me see this through.”  
Egan nodded and proceeded to head to the med bay again.  
“Kaidan?” he asked Dr Chakwas who looked up from where she was typing when Egan walked in.  
“Recovered, said something about meeting you downstairs.”  
“Thanks, Doc.”  
“Shepard?”  
“Yes?”  
“Take extra medi gel with you this time.” She pointed at the dispenser and Egan chuckled but added some more to his supplies just the same.  
“Good luck Commander.”  
The last and biggest of the Getht bases more like a warehouse, with more of the juggernauts and larger Geth taking up their positions against them.  
“Keep cover, Egan!”Kaidan called as Egan slid into the room, his biotic shield intact; but shortly after taking up behind a crate, the crate shattered.  
“Egan!” Tali never used his first name but he gathered that having traveled with Kaidan calling him that had rubbed off. “I mean Shepard,”  
“It’s fine!” Egan laughed as he shot another singularity at the Geth as it approached.  
Floating in the air it struggled while Tali shot it down.  
Finally, the room was empty.  
“Wait…” Egan said, “Do you hear that?”  
“I…” Tali moved across the room to a console “Keelah..”  
“What is it?” Kaidan came over behind them  
“Is that Quarian?”  
“Music from Rannoch… it has to be..“ Tali lifted her omni tool and recorded the last few seconds of the music fading to a mournful wail.  
“More terminals in here.” Egan called after the sound had faded; having respectfully moved off to look in the side room. “Oh.”  
“What do you have?”  
“Files, going to be eons before they can be translated, but files from the Geth, data files.”  
“Data files?” Tali joined the two men to look at the console “We could learn a lot about the Geth from these files.”  
“You want a copy Tali? For your pilgrimage?” Egan asked  
“Shepard?” Kaidan seemed surprised that Egan knew anything about what Tali was after.  
“I was talking to Tali about what she was looking for, she said something to help them understand the Geth.”  
“I want to take as much as I can home to the fleet.” Tali replied to both of them “Yes, if it is okay Egan… Shepard, please.”  
“Just watch calling me Egan in front of the crew, and we will be fine.” Egan was amused at the slip “Most of them would die before calling their superior officer by name.”  
“Sorry.” Tali shook her head.  
“Well let’s head back, time to get back on the hunt for Saren, find out what Geth are doing on Faros.” Egan sighed “I am sure the answer is up to no good but we have to go there to find out.”


End file.
